- Apr 24, 2013
- 1,200
Decision Offers Scathing Assessment of Agency's Management of Internet-Surveillance Program
Newly declassified court documents show one of the National Security Agency's key surveillance programs was plagued by years of "systemic overcollection'' of private Internet communications.
A 117-page decision by Judge John Bates of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court offers a scathing assessment of the NSA's ability to manage its own top-secret electronic surveillance of Internet metadata—a program the NSA scrapped after a 2011 review found it wasn't fulfilling its mission.
The newly declassified documents suggest another possible reason for its demise. The surveillance agency struggled to collect metadata, such as the "to'' and "from'' information of an email, without also collecting other information, such as the contents or partial contents of such communications, information that is supposed to be beyond what it legally is permitted to gather.
Judge Bates' memorandum is heavily redacted, so even the date or year it was written is unclear. In it, he repeatedly criticizes the NSA for "long-standing and pervasive violations of the prior [court] orders in this matter.''
Previously released documents show many of the problems came to light in 2009.
Some of the problems with Internet metadata previously were reported and have been part of a broad critique of the NSA's surveillance activities since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The new document from Judge Bates offers the most detailed accounting—even with more than a dozen pages blacked out—of what those problems were.
Among the issues described in the judge's memorandum: a typographical error that would have led to two months of over-collection of data in previous court orders; NSA sharing information with other agencies that failed to limit the use of the data purely to counterterrorism purposes; and disseminating reports with information about legal U.S. residents without getting necessary approval to share that information.
"The most charitable interpretation possible is that the same factors identified by the government [redacted] remained unabated and in full effect: non-communication with the technical personnel directly responsible [redacted] resulting from poor management,'' the judge wrote.
The over-collection of data had occurred continuously since the program was first authorized by the court, and some assurances made by senior NSA officials about the limits placed on the program proved to be untrue, the judge found.
He also concluded that given the frequency with which NSA employees shared information about legal U.S. residents without authorization, "widespread ignorance of the rules'' seemed to have been a problem at the agency.
The judge's order ultimately reauthorized the program, with more stringent conditions than the government had sought.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in a written statement Monday, said the Internet metadata program ended after a 2011 review concluded it "was no longer meeting NSA's operational expectations. Accordingly, after careful deliberation, the government discontinued the program, and the metadata collected pursuant to this program has been purged.''
The statement didn't address the specific criticisms raised in the documents.
The memorandum was one of a number of documents released as part of a declassification review in the wake of revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and in response to Freedom of Information Act filings from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group.
Judge Bates has been the designated spokesman for the judiciary opposing several proposed changes to the structure of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, particularly the addition of a special advocate to represent privacy interests.
Newly declassified court documents show one of the National Security Agency's key surveillance programs was plagued by years of "systemic overcollection'' of private Internet communications.
A 117-page decision by Judge John Bates of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court offers a scathing assessment of the NSA's ability to manage its own top-secret electronic surveillance of Internet metadata—a program the NSA scrapped after a 2011 review found it wasn't fulfilling its mission.
The newly declassified documents suggest another possible reason for its demise. The surveillance agency struggled to collect metadata, such as the "to'' and "from'' information of an email, without also collecting other information, such as the contents or partial contents of such communications, information that is supposed to be beyond what it legally is permitted to gather.
Judge Bates' memorandum is heavily redacted, so even the date or year it was written is unclear. In it, he repeatedly criticizes the NSA for "long-standing and pervasive violations of the prior [court] orders in this matter.''
Previously released documents show many of the problems came to light in 2009.
Some of the problems with Internet metadata previously were reported and have been part of a broad critique of the NSA's surveillance activities since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The new document from Judge Bates offers the most detailed accounting—even with more than a dozen pages blacked out—of what those problems were.
Among the issues described in the judge's memorandum: a typographical error that would have led to two months of over-collection of data in previous court orders; NSA sharing information with other agencies that failed to limit the use of the data purely to counterterrorism purposes; and disseminating reports with information about legal U.S. residents without getting necessary approval to share that information.
"The most charitable interpretation possible is that the same factors identified by the government [redacted] remained unabated and in full effect: non-communication with the technical personnel directly responsible [redacted] resulting from poor management,'' the judge wrote.
The over-collection of data had occurred continuously since the program was first authorized by the court, and some assurances made by senior NSA officials about the limits placed on the program proved to be untrue, the judge found.
He also concluded that given the frequency with which NSA employees shared information about legal U.S. residents without authorization, "widespread ignorance of the rules'' seemed to have been a problem at the agency.
The judge's order ultimately reauthorized the program, with more stringent conditions than the government had sought.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in a written statement Monday, said the Internet metadata program ended after a 2011 review concluded it "was no longer meeting NSA's operational expectations. Accordingly, after careful deliberation, the government discontinued the program, and the metadata collected pursuant to this program has been purged.''
The statement didn't address the specific criticisms raised in the documents.
The memorandum was one of a number of documents released as part of a declassification review in the wake of revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and in response to Freedom of Information Act filings from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group.
Judge Bates has been the designated spokesman for the judiciary opposing several proposed changes to the structure of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, particularly the addition of a special advocate to represent privacy interests.
